Electricity + Control April 2017

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ROUND UP DRIVES, MOTORS + SWITCHGEART AN FORMERS + SUBS ATIONS
Commitment to Africa – not just about money
When companies invest in Africa by setting up production
facilities here, they contribute far more than just finances,
buildings and equipment; they offer their host countries a
shortcut into the global mainstream, opening the doors to
trade and development on an unprecedented scale.
According to Louis Meiring, CEO of the Johannesburg-based
ZestWEG Group, by far the most important aspects of foreign
investment are the access to global operations, the transfer of
technology, and the ongoing training and skills upliftment. Zest
WEG Group is part of the global WEG Group, whose commit-
ment to Africa is evident in its ongoing financial investment
in local manufacturing operations.
“WEG initiated a programme to uplift the Zest WEG Group
facilities to become world class,” says Meiring. “This puts our
local manufacturing facilities onto an international platform
so our products can be considered for international markets,
including the existingWEG network of operations worldwide.”
He says Zest WEG Group will use the WEG world network
as a source for enquiries, to create business opportunities and
bring much-needed international business to South Africa.
“This is all perfectly feasible through technology transfer, as
we have the resources to skill and train our people,” he says.
“Once again, however, there is more to technology transfer
than just training.”
While technology transfer does include the upliftment of
people’s ability to design or engineer products, it is also about
the benefit of lessons learnt in the process of research and
development (R&D).
“These lessons, which have been learnt by theWEG Group
through decades of experience, will have an immeasurable im-
pact on our local operations, due
to the high levels of R&D already
conducted,” says Meiring. “This
technology is then transferred to
the local operation without us hav-
ing to incur the cost or the time to
develop it.”
This process includes the vital aspect of how to produce the
product using best practicemethodologies, such as leanmanu-
facturing, so special skills must be transferred and developed
in South African industrial facilities.
Zest WEG Group has long been an active player in skills
upliftment, with a reputation for the quality of its training
centre and training programmes; all of which are accredited
by the relevant authorities for the provision of continuous
professional development (CPD) points.
“We conduct training not only for our own staff but for our
customers too,” Meiring says. “We see this as vital in address-
ing the skills void in various segments of the electric motor
sector; created during the late nineties and early 2000s when
the role of artisan was not considered to be a career of choice.”
He says that, as a committed
partner and the leading manu-
facturer of electric motors
worldwide,WEG has continued
the training ethos long estab-
lished by Zest WEG Group. Its
training interventions extend
beyond South Africa to other African countries, with the train-
ing officer regularly travelling across the continent to ensure
that the relevant technology is shared wherever necessary.
“As an African nation, we need to be able to access to the
necessary skills sets locally, so that we become less dependent
on foreign nationals to provide critical skills,” says Meiring.
“As a modern economy, we also need to maintain the costly
capital equipment installed in many sectors of South African
industry and the lack of these skills can play havoc.”
He emphasised the importance of skilled and regular main-
tenance to extend the life cycle of any equipment, arguing that
industrial inefficiencies are, more often than not, the result of
poor maintenance or no maintenance at all. “Part of the invest-
ment in skills is to educate those who operate and oversee
equipment about the critical nature of proper maintenance,”
says Meiring. “When this change in mindset occurs, we will
know we are on the correct path to economic success.”
Enquiries: Kirsten Larkan.Tel. +27 (0) 11 723 6000
or email Louis Meiring, CEO of the
Johannesburg-based Zest WEG Group.
One of the most welcome
benefits of economic investment
is the creation of jobs directly
within the new manufacturing
facilities created; and indirectly.
37 April ‘17 Electricity+Control